Us will reinforce Saudis to defend against Iranian and (alleged) Houdi aggression.
The United States (U.S.) has announced on Friday, i.e., September 21, 2019 to send additional troops to Saudi Arabia to bolster Saudi Arabia’s air and missile defense system, in the wake of recent attacks at oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais.
The deployment will involve only a moderate number of troops, not numbering in thousands, and will be defensive in nature. Besides, the U.S. has also chalked out plans to expedite the delivery of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The attacks at the 2 oil facilities disrupted Saudi Arabia’s crude oil supply by 5.7 million barrels per day, which is 50% of its output. After the attack, the President of U.S. – Donald Trump spoke to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia – Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, in a telephonic conversation where the latter said that Saudi Arabia is willing and able to respond the recent drone attacks on its oil facilities. Although Yemen’s Houthi rebel claimed the responsibility of the attack, U.S. has blamed the Islamic Republic of Iran for the attack. To substantiate its claim, the U.S. issued satellite images and cited intelligence report showing Iran’s involvement in the attack. However, Iran has denied all the allegations.
Speaking to media, the U.S. Secretary of Defense – Mike Esper said, “In response to the kingdom’s request, the president has approved the deployment of U.S. forces, which will be defensive in nature and primarily focused on air and missile defense.”
He further added, “We will also work to accelerate the delivery of military equipment to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to enhance their ability to defend themselves.”
He also said that the message from Trump Administration is clear that the U.S supports its partners in the region and will defend the free flow of commerce through the Persian Gulf and demonstrate its commitment to the rules-based international order. Talking about war with Iran, he said, “As the President has made clear, the United States does not seek conflict with Iran.”
Besides, Trump has also announced newer sanction on Iran. These have been imposed on Central Bank of Iran and the National Development Fund of Iran, the sovereign wealth fund of Iran. The sanctions have been imposed on Bank for money laundering and funding terrorist groups.
Trump also mentioned that it would be very easy for him to launch air attacks on Iran but at the moment, he is not considering military attacks. Ruling out military options, Trump added, “Because the easiest thing I could do, Okay, go ahead. Knock out 15 different major things in Iran. But I’m not looking to do that if I can.”
“It’s too bad what’s happened to Iran, it’s going to hell, doing poorly, they’re practically broke. They are broke. And they could solve the problem very easily. All they have to do is stop with the terror,” said Trump.
The tensions between Iran and the U.S. relate to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal or Iran nuclear deal reached in Vienna on July 14, 2015, between Iran, the P5+1 (the 5 permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – plus Germany) and European Union (E.U.).
As per the agreement, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about 2/3rd the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years, Iran was not allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67%. However, trouble started when U.S. abandoned the deal in May 2018 and started imposing sanctions on Iran.
